Learn to scuba dive as a school group

Have you been looking for that school trip which is a little bit different?  Then why not think about one of our learn how to scuba dive trips on the beautiful island of Malta?
We run tailor made trips which suit your schools needs including;

• PADI Open Water Course including all PADI Materials/Fees and dive rental equipment 

• 1 weeks accommodation

•  Meal options 

• Transfer Options 

• Flight Options 

• Individual film of your learning to dive experience 

• In-country support rep Fully protected by ATOL & TTA

Full information can be found on our website - http://www.scubadubadive.com/dive-training/School-Group-Training-Trips/

Banchory Academy's review of their trip

"Excellent Educational Excursion "I led a recent Activities week excursion to Malta to learn how to Scuba Dive. The two teachers and 20 pupils had a fantastic experience. Scuba Duba Dive organised our trip from Banchory in the north east of Scotland, by coach to Manchester, then flight to Malta. Travel was good and accommodation was a short walk from the dive centre. The staff at the dive centre were friendly, extremely helpful and the quality of instruction was first class. The diving in Malta was spectacular with clear waters and lots of sea life to encounter. Most of the pupils, and both teachers, gained their open water scuba diving certification with others gaining their scuba diving qualification. All in all a fantastic experience that I would recommend to individuals and school parties."

New Website

So hello everyone,

It's been a while since we've written a blog.  A lot has happened since the last blog post- school group trips, diving trips around Scotland but the main thing that has happened is that we've got a new website.

The new website has been along time in the making but we've finally put it live.  It's got lots of great new features and it's just the start of making Scuba Duba Dive that one-stop portal for all things scuba diving.

We'll be posting some blogs over the next few coming weeks about some of the new features but in the meantime if you've got any questions just get in touch.

Scuba Duba Dive Does Careers Fairs in the North East of Scotland

Whilst at a networking event in Aberdeen, Scotland in late October and I happened to get speaking to a women who ran a company called Aberdeen Entrepreneurs.  She was interested to hear all about Scuba Duba Dive and what I had to offer.  For some reason the subject changed onto school career fairs. They were very keen for me to attend their first event in less than a week’s time.  I said I would have a think about it and be in touch.   My main worry was I didn't really have much to build a good stand.  Nevertheless I agreed to attend and have a Scuba Duba Dive stand at the school show in the North East of Scotland.

What would make a good, interesting stand for the children coming to visit? I put together all my dive gear and had some good diving movies which I’d play.  People always like to take away something from a show so leaflets were the answer.  Recently getting the grips of Adobe Photoshop I designed some last minute leaflets detailing all the courses offered in the different locations.  The problem was printing them but with help from my local printers I managed to get 200 copies run off at 5pm when I was due to leave the next morning at 6am.

During the day I had a lot of pupils and teachers interested in scuba diving.  The fact that I had a very inviting stand with some movies from Koh Tao in Thailand playing when it was near freezing outside interested people also! I had a quick look around the room at other people’s stands as I wanted to get some ideas as how to improve my own.  The thought of a roller banner displaying all my basic information seemed good but also instead of my dive gear just sitting there, a mannequin wearing the gear would be a lot better.

After that show the next one is January - plenty of time to go about improving my stand.  So the hunt for a decent mannequin began.  Asking around department stores and various friends who I knew worked in or had contacts in department stores proved fruitless.  Every time I asked the member of staff they just looked at me very oddly and said sorry no.  It was then I turned to that great website GumTree.  Posting an advert ‘wanted full sized mannequin with arms, legs and a head’ and within two hours I’d received two phone calls, one saying she had two in her shed and another saying they had four.  After receiving pictures of these mannequins the women who had four had the better mannequin.  I traveled up to “meet” the new member of the team and it was exactly what I was after and fits my dive gear perfectly.  He even has a great story behind his past. Scuba Steve: used to be a guardsman on a ship to deter pirates!

All I had to do now was design my roller banner to have the perfect stand.  I set about making a basic design to get reviews from other people.  Keeping the pictures and information short and to the point would catch people’s attention.  Designing a two meter tall banner on a 24 inch monitor really didn't give you much feel as to how it was going to look in the print.  I finally sent it off to the printers and when it arrived it was perfect. My stand looks more professional for the four shows I've got coming up this spring.  It really goes to show what networking can do.  

Who would have thought a random conversation in Aberdeen would have resulted in all these shows.  My advice never be shy to speak to someone or ask the question, as you never know who they know or what they do!

Stoney Cove- My First Visit

Stoney Cove Car Park

Having heard a lot of people taking about Stoney Cove being the in-land diving place to visit, I thought as I was in Birmingham for DIVE 2013 I should pay a visit to Stoney Cove which is just nearby.  Not knowing a huge amount about Stoney Cove I wasn't really sure what to expect.  Taking to a few people at DIVE 2013 I asked around for advise on the best parts to dive and what the general layout of Stoney Cove was.  I was then told the bad news, Stoney Cove is always busy at the weekend and to be their at 7am!!  That meant Saturday night's pub plan had be just a few pints!

Staying at a guest house just a few minutes from Stoney Cove we got a full cooked breakfast at 7am and made our way to the dive center just after 7.15am, luckily we got straight in and managed to get parked at the first car park along side the quarry.  If the car park is full you'll have to wait till people leave or you get the option of being in car park 2 which is a little bit of a walk with your equipment to the entry points.  After taking a quick look around and picking up the tanks it was time to kit up.  I was diving with my new Forth Element 7mm Proteus Semi-dry and my friend with his Typhoon Divemaster dry suit.  It was the first time I'd dived with this semi-dry so I was eager to try it out and to see if all the raving reviews I'd read about it all added up.

After buddy checks we were ready to enter the water, as it was quite a sunny day I was ready to get in as putting a brand new 7mm semi-dry suit on is a bit of a challenge! We'd decided to swim out to the Stanegarth marker buoy and then descend rather than navigating our way out to the wreck.  The visibility was reasonably good so we circled the wreck and then took a compass baring make towards the exit point.  On the way back we came across a few other bits of wreckage, an old land rover, a submarine and a swim through under the pub bench.  There was quite a lot of marine life about including little crayfish, perch and carp.


During the surface interval we grabbed some food and hot drinks from the little cafe near the entry points.  Everything that was on offer was very reasonably priced.  We dropped off our tanks at the filling station which had a quick turn around time, kitted up again then planned the second dive.  This time we went looking for the aircraft cockpit, so made an entry at the bus stop.  We descended down some old train tracks to around 25 meters, missing the cockpit on the way down we came across it on the way back up, along with a couple of big pikes.  The temperature at 25 meters dropped to 10 degrees but I didn't feel the cold at all so the Fourth Element Proteus was really living up to the reviews.  A full map of Stoney Cove can be found here.

I'd highly recommend doing some dives at Stoney Cove as there is so many interesting things to see.  The conditions are great for divers of all qualifications due to it being an inland quarry.  Stoney Cove also offer a full range of diving courses along with a massive range of kit hire.  I also used the ScubaStrapp for the first time which is a new diving product which should be launching anytime soon.  It has a use for every element of diving, I've also found many other uses for the Scuba Strapp outwith the water.

DIVE 2013- Birmingham NEC 26th/27th of October 2013

The Birmingham dive show is one of the biggest events in the UK for scuba divers each year.  The show is packed full of great new product releases, prize draws, try dives, great deals on new equipment, seminars from many great divers and much much more.

Tickets are priced at £12.50 and can be purchased online here or at the NEC on the day.  Please note if you purchase your ticket before noon on the 23rd of October you'll save £3 per ticket or if you're buying six or more then you'll save £4 a ticket.  The NEC is easily accessible off the M6 and M42 for full travel details follow this link.

I think apart from the really good bargains you can pick up at the show the seminars are brilliant.  There is a couple of must see seminars and you can find the full list of speakers and timings here.

We will be wondering around the show on Saturday if you wish a chat, just get in touch.  Full details of the show can be found on the dive shows website- http://www.diveshows.co.uk/

Fun Diving on Koh Tao

Fire Dancing, Koh Tao

I contacted Scuba Duba Dive looking to organise a weeks worth of fun diving on the idyllic island of Koh Tao off the coast of Thailand.  Mungo was very quick to get back to me with a quote and rough itinerary which I could adjust to my needs.  Transfers to and from Bangkok were also arranged and both journeys went remarkably smoothly (something rarely guaranteed in the case of Thai buses!)

Dive Boat, Koh Tao

On arrival to Koh Tao, I was greeted by a rep who showed me to the reception desk.  The dive instructors in office were incredibly helpful and friendly, making sure I had all the required qualifications before showing me to my room.  The room itself was one of the beachside bungalows, simple and basic but good value for such a good price.  Unfortunately during a particularly heavy rainstorm the ceiling did drip a little.

Whatever shortcoming the accommodation had this was made u

p for in the quality of the dive instructors.  I dived with Brad and Rob, both of whom were very professional when it came down to our safety but also make diving a lot of fun!  During my week there I saw variety of different reefs, even when the weather conditions weren't favourable and the ships captions were relunctant to visit reefs too far away.  One of my favourite dives was where we visited a wreck, absolutely incredible to see and a memory I will keep for a long time.

I would definitely organise another diving trip through Scuba Duba Dive, they made it so easy for me, especially as a lone, first time traveller.  I would also highly recommend them to anyone looking for a reliable company to dive with, weather its for fun diving or attaining higher PADI qualifications.

Charlotte Cutler, 18, UK

Olly's time on Koh Tao learning how to dive

Olly has recently returned from a trip learning how to dive with us on Koh Tao.  Below is a review of what he had to say about his time on the island.

"I contacted Mungo at Scuba Duba Dive about 2 months prior to the planned holiday, our tailor made package was quickly organised and confirmed. It is comforting to know that all of the money I invested into a holiday is protected through both the TTA and ATOL.

On arrival at Koh Samui Airport the transfers were waiting and were prepared to take us to the Lomprayah Ferry. The transfer to Koh Tao was quick, pleasant and easy using the Lomrayah Fast Cats.

On arrival at the pier staff from the hotel were ready to pick us up. Koh Tao Regal Hotel is an odd place, long dark corridors, and questionable interior design in the lobby but looking out to a fantastic looking pool and bar area. The concerns were quickly alleviated when we got to our rooms which were quite frankly fantastic. Okay they weren’t spotlessly clean and a few maintenance issues but the room was huge, with an ensuite that included a Jacuzzi. But overall the view was special, looking out over the beach and across the bay. The balcony was a lovely place both to refresh yourself in the cool morning air and a perfect vantage point to watch the sunset over Thailand in the evening.

On arrival at the Dive Resort the company were expecting us and were ready with the paper work so we could enlist upon the course. All the instructors were extremely friendly and knowledgeable, they would happily assign different instructors to different abilities so that no one was leftwaiting. I did my PADI Open Water, PADI Advanced Open Water and PADI Wreck Speciality. Throughout the courses I never had more than 6 in the group with 3 instructors but I mostly had 2 instructors to myself throughout the week.

Another bonus of the resort was that they could find instructors that speak various assortments of languages. We had a Russian trio in our group, who were given a Russian speaking Dive Master for translation.

During my time in Koh Tao I dived at Mango Bay, Twins, White Rock, Sail Rock and HMTS Sattakut, the latter using that for my wreck spec. The coral and sea life is abundantly colourful and diverse at all sites. Diving on and inside HMTS Sattakut was an experience I’ll never forget. With visibility varying between 5 meters and 30 meters on different dives, I truly got a sense that the same boat was an entirely different wreck.

Koh Tao is a place that I will miss, and I wish to go back sometime. Although it is an isolated little island the society is not at all closed and tight knit. The varying array of restaurants from all corners of the world were fantastic. I do not think I had a bad meal the whole time I was there. Everyone is friendly and helpful and the internet provisions are fantastic. The climate was exceptionally comfortable, around 30-35 with a constant sea breeze ridding the island of the expected humidity. Also if there are any problems Koh Tao has a good medical centre and everyone was more than happy to go out of their way to help you.

One of the more unexpected highlights was Koh Samui airport. The departure lounge is basically an outdoor shopping street, with various brands and restaurants. The architecture was quaint and well thought out. Spending a few hours at Koh Samui Airport was a pleasant way of ending our holiday."

Interested in learning how to dive?  Get in touch with us here

View from Koh Tao Regal Swimming Pool